BCM Community
Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM on August 14, 2023, 07:02:35 PM
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Does anyone on here use Cement or Cinder Blocks for jacking up a Bus or even a Car for that matter?
Image for reference only as I saw this on Facebook today.
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Not a good idea especially the way that block in the photo is orientated. If you have to use a block turn it so the holes are top & bottom sandwiched between 2 pieces of plywood. Cement blocks can crack & crumble easily when used for blocking.
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Gary I haven't seen cinder blocks in 50 years,your so called concrete blocks have very little cement they are made with Haydite and flyash,they won't hold weight unless the 2 holes are filled with concrete,LOL that is why I wouldn't go to Walmart for storm protection.The codes in Tx,OK and Ar only reqiured the blocks poured where the roof trusses sit on for Walmart stores
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After reading Cliff's post our two story log home sits on a full finished basement constructed of 8" block like in Gary's photo but the blocks are poured totally solid with concrete with #5 rebar every 4' tied into the oversized footer.
I'm not certain I'd trust a cement block under the weight of a bus even if it was poured solid. If it failed there probably wouldn't be any warning like you may get with crushing wood. Either way it's an eerie thought.
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Gary I haven't seen cinder blocks in 50 years,your so called concrete blocks have very little cement they are made with Haydite and flyash,they won't hold weight unless the 2 holes are filled with concrete,LOL that is why I wouldn't go to Walmart for storm protection.The codes in Tx,OK and Ar only reqiured the blocks poured where the roof trusses sit on for Walmart stores
I haven't seen Cinder Blocks for years Cliff. We had them in a chimney in the 3-car garage back home. They crumble really easily as you well know. But I hear the term mistakenly very frequently in the news, so somehow the news media thinks these are still popular, but I assumed they no longer even make them.
I cringe whenever I see these used to block up cars or buses, as I worked with them a lot growing up and I also used heaving wooden blocking as we had a lot of 4x4 and 8x8 blocks on the farm and not once did we ever use cement blocks or worse yet, cinder blocks to jack ANYTHING up, and we jacked up almost every building on the farm over time. I often wonder how many people are getting killed or maimed using cement blocks to jack up vehicles nowadays.
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NO! .... Just no...
TOM
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The 8x16 blocks are good for what they were designed for,I have seen the blocks open in some areas used for HVAC duct on a few McDonalds and Walgreens and worked out well
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Now just hold on a minute guys, that cinder (cement) block is not being used to hold up the truck. He's attempting to remove the brake rotor by using the floor jack and using the cinder block to hold the jack in position. Only load on the block is the jack. Now admittedly that method of rotor removal is pretty questionable at best but between the jack and a judicial application of a BFH he might get it off. You can see where he smeared grease all around the studs and hub.
By now I'd hope we all know that those blocks are a poor choice for holding up anything that is able to move about even a little. But who hasn't ever done such a thing? I can remember stacks of blocks holding up the four corners of a Travelall body so I could roll the frame out and a different one back in when I swapped to 4WD. I was able to come up with the blocks fairly easily but at the tine there was no other viable alternative as I didn't have the money to go buy the proper equipment. That body probably weighed 3-4 thousand pounds which meant a thousand pounds or more on each stack. But they are fairly stable in straight compression which is why they are used for buildings. Naturally I avoided getting under it, and would not chance that but for the job it was OK. Had it collapsed I made certain I could get out of the way at all times.
Jim
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I use only timbers and solid blocks when necessary, as I have a pit.
Many saw mills nearby and plentiful timbers and blocking.
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I use only timbers and solid blocks when necessary, as I have a pit.
Many saw mills nearby and plentiful timbers and blocking.
I just use good pinned jack stands not the H/F $#!%
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Jack stands are scary for me because they seem to slide easy on both ends (upper & lower) when on concrete (bottom) & steel to steel (top).
Maybe it's bias because I'm a carpenter but we prefer good old PT solid wood blocking.
We have a pit also but after 3 days when the air suspension leaks down it sits over the pit for long extended periods of time on the blocking. Then the axles can be jacked with a 1 ton jack. :^
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Now just hold on a minute guys, that cinder (cement) block is not being used to hold up the truck.
As it says in my original post in the fine print
"Image for reference only as I saw this on Facebook today."
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Jack stands are scary for me because they seem to slide easy on both ends (upper & lower) when on concrete (bottom) & steel to steel (top).
Maybe it's bias because I'm a carpenter but we prefer good old PT solid wood blocking.
We have a pit also but after 3 days when the air suspension leaks down it sits over the pit for long extended periods of time on the blocking. Then the axles can be jacked with a 1 ton jack. :^
I agree 100%. I don't trust Jack Stands either. I like wood as whatever I am jacking up or jacking with, sinks down in a bit indenting the wood and preventing anything from slipping out.
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I just use good pinned jack stands not the H/F $#!%
I agree on the Harbor Freight Jack Stands.
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I agree 100%. I don't trust Jack Stands either. I like wood as whatever I am jacking up or jacking with, sinks down in a bit indenting the wood and preventing anything from slipping out.
Jack stands don't sink on 6 or 8 inch thick slabs .mine have a 12x12 x1/2 plate on the bottom ,I am not getting under a bus with a H/F rachet type stand I may use one to hold up a part I am installing
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I use these but on piece of plywood so no slipping on concrete but wood blocking on dirt or gravel.
https://www.amazon.com/Omega-32225B-Black-Heavy-Stand/dp/B000GTMIQO/ref=sr_1_5?
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Dave those don't look bad for the price either,mine have a larger foot print,a little taller and heavy as hell,lol I wish mine weighed less than 1 once like in Amazon specs for that set,I want a set of 12 ton OTC 1778 B if I ever find a set on sale
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No, no, no. Never, Never, Never.
Seb
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Personally, I like using a table like this to set my bus on when I go underneath. Just saying'.
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Lords way of weeding out the stupid.
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Serious question... I have some leftover 6x6 rough cut cedar from a pergola project. Is that a good material for blocks? The reason I ask is that, in working with it, I noticed some pieces are much more dense than others (at least by weight). So, I am kind of concerned that a less dense one might not be as good for blocking.
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Cedar is a soft wood they are not much good for cribbing
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Hemlock is good. Evergreen, but grain is similar to oak.
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Any wood in satisfactory condition, ie: no rot nor degrading of any kind - is okay for blocking and cribbage as long as it isn't point loaded. The use of steel plate to spread the load enables any type of wood to be use except for balsa wood or any wood with such weightless & light characteristics. Cedar was used as structural construction lumber in earlier times, same for redwood and other light soft species. We use PT pine 6X6 & 8" round in the vertical position with a metal top plate as the grain direction makes it much stronger with HD SS band around the circumference for added security in case of cracking or splitting & steel plate between it and earth. Hemlock used to be the conifer wood of choice for structural construction lumber but it's now pricing makes it prohibitive. Newer hybrid wood species like SPF (spruce/pine/fir) are predominantly domestic construction lumbers then there's a flu of exotics (foreign) out there. I'm no expert but carpentry is my trade and in my millwrighting experience with heavy hauls and setting heavy equipment - wood is a fine cribbing and blocking material when used with good common sense.
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At Tenneco or safety guy Burns specified oak only for cribbing some of our vessels and compressors would weigh 150 tons and we may have 50 miles of 30 inch .250 wall pipe cribbed on 4 x6 x 4 oak waiting for trench.Oak was easy and cheap to find in Texas we used it to shore deep trenches after Burns would give classes on cribbing and shoring, lol the friggn yellow pine in Texas is hard as oak is was grown for paper mills in Texas
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Oak is heavy Clifford. I was going to suggest Balsa. Just kidding. ;D
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Oak is heavy Clifford. I was going to suggest Balsa. Just kidding. ;D
Yes it is I would watch the labors unload truck loads of 6x4x4 we called skids then when finished they loaded all the skids back on trucks to go to a section of new pipe line construction,welders had no problem going under pipe cribbed up to weld the bottom of the 30 inch pipe 2 ft off the ground ,they would bitch a little if it was over 2 ft
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Dave those don't look bad for the price either,mine have a larger foot print,a little taller and heavy as hell,lol I wish mine weighed less than 1 once like in Amazon specs for that set,I want a set of 12 ton OTC 1778 B if I ever find a set on sale
Here some used ones for a lot less.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/256169560141?
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Here some used ones for a lot less.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/256169560141?
They are nice stands but the price is always high for jack stands
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I kinda like these.
Jim
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I kinda like these.
Jim
This is cheating. ;D
However, I would never crawl under a bus that is supported only by Hydraulic jacks. I once was operating a backhoe and my co-worker was in the ditch close to the bucket, and a hydraulic hose blew and the boom and bucket came crashing down. Thankfully he was out of the way enough that he did not get hurt, but he did get covered with hot hydraulic oil. But for that reason, I never would walk under a bucket of a loader or backhoe after that, as hoses can blow and fittings can fail at any time for a number of reasons. I would also never get in the back of a dump truck under the bed to work on brakes or anything else without first blocking up the bed. But I saw people do that all the time when I was working in construction i na previous life.
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Agree, and... agree. The semi trailer landing gear make very nice jacks once they are set up. But getting there takes some fairly serious commitment. Still, being screw jacks once they are set they don't move so no readjusting in the middle of the night. Neither hydraulic or air are as secure.
Jim
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This is cheating. ;D
However, I would never crawl under a bus that is supported only by Hydraulic jacks. I once was operating a backhoe and my co-worker was in the ditch close to the bucket, and a hydraulic hose blew and the boom and bucket came crashing down. Thankfully he was out of the way enough that he did not get hurt, but he did get covered with hot hydraulic oil. But for that reason, I never would walk under a bucket of a loader or backhoe after that, as hoses can blow and fittings can fail at any time for a number of reasons. I would also never get in the back of a dump truck under the bed to work on brakes or anything else without first blocking up the bed. But I saw people do that all the time when I was working in construction i na previous life.
Gary that not the case with all Hyd leveling jacks some only have wires the pump is on each jack no hoses and they need pressure to retract
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Okay. I didn't know that Cliff. But that makes sense. Would it be the same way on Stabilizers on a backhoe?
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Okay. I didn't know that Cliff. But that makes sense. Would it be the same way on Stabilizers on a backhoe?
The new equipment since 99 with all the electronics are a marvel for safety,I had new 792 John Deere excavator that would shut the engine off if it blew a hose it would sense to much flow for a component,if on full throttle if useage wasn't deteceted it would go to idle and in 3 minutes would shut down,I liked that operators didn't they didn't have AC setting on their @$#
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I buy tilting dumpsters of blocks over at Amish sawmill for 25 bucks, about a pickup load. Lots of heavy blocking pieces. 10x10, 5x8, 4x4, etc. I just get oak if they have it. Sometimes poplar.
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Most place don't have it but the Mesquite here in the desert is some hard stuff,I tried to plane some and it ate the blades up
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Old railroad jacks like this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324388740054?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338590836&toolid=10044&customid=b72cbd6f103f1a51117ed98e5cc0ff67
could be usable as a jack stand in the retracted position (not jacked up). I once got a couple of them at a flea market for $20. They have been supporting a semi trailer I have for many years. But personally, I think Styrofoam is the best since it so light and easy to move around.
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Old railroad jacks like this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324388740054?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338590836&toolid=10044&customid=b72cbd6f103f1a51117ed98e5cc0ff67
could be usable as a jack stand in the retracted position (not jacked up). I once got a couple of them at a flea market for $20. They have been supporting a semi trailer I have for many years. But personally, I think Styrofoam is the best since it so light and easy to move around.
Those track jacks will send a 4 ft steel bar sailing if not careful and they will take off a finger
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I had one. Wouldnt use it to jack a bus. Foot too small and have to be careful when lowering. 20 or 30 ton hydraulic jacks are cheap enough now. but spring for air assisted ones. If you Don't have an air supply, use your bus's.